#1  
Old 12-28-2019, 11:15 PM
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Default Strange 68 story

So here is a strange story. About 5 years ago I bought a 68 YS engine and a 68 PX 400 turbo transmission off Craigslist. It was a matched pair and I got them cheap enough, I just stashed them away for maybe a project down the road. Everything was numbers matching and only the 16 heads and carburetor were missing. Fast forward to last week, a buddy of mine who mostly buys/sells/parts C-3 Corvettes calls me up and said he just bought two 68 GTO’s, a convertible and a hardtop parts car. It turns out the convertible is a Tempest and mostly complete and nearly a finished project, the hardtop is a GTO. He did not need anything more off the hardtop and wanted to know if was interested. He brought the car by and it had decent fenders, hood, doors and some other parts I could use on my 68 Ram Air projects. We made a deal and I unloaded it off the trailer, took a couple of snapshots and went home. Later that evening I was looking at pictures of the VIN and trim tag and something looked familiar with the VIN, I looked up the pictures of the YS engine and transmission and they are the numbers matching for this parts car I just bought! The 68 GTO is a pretty standard car A/C, auto, P/S etc. It is also an endura delete car, that is really the only thing that is special about the car. Now I don’t know if I should still part it for the Ram Air cars, restore it, or throw the numbers matching engine/trans. back in it and sell it as a project? I certainly don’t need another project myself, or maybe I’ll just sit on it awhile. It is just the craziest thing to happen, and if it didn’t happen to me I’m not sure I would have believed it!

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  #2  
Old 12-28-2019, 11:33 PM
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That’s amazing that the car and it’s drivetrain found each other. I would for sure keep them together now. Wish I could handle another project myself.

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  #3  
Old 12-28-2019, 11:42 PM
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I think that is a sign... keep them together. Endura delete car too. Cool to reunite them.

Years ago there was a 68 Verdoro green gto around here and I stumbled onto the original WT engine, bellhousing and flywheel, while buying a 68 bonneville for parts. I may still have the build sheet. I remember it also had another cars build sheet above the gas tank.

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Old 12-29-2019, 01:05 AM
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That is pretty cool they came back together. Throw the hook out somebody might bite?

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  #5  
Old 12-29-2019, 06:23 AM
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That's a score ... has to be worth more as a matched set than separately. Even on a plain Jane matching frame/engine/trans VIN is worth considerably more. At least attempt to sell it as a set before parting it out.

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Old 12-29-2019, 03:17 PM
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Tempest Conv is nice too, probably rare

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Old 12-29-2019, 08:16 PM
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It would be a real shame, after defying all the odds against ever being reunited, to separate them for a second time. If you did, it would be almost like it never happened!

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Old 12-30-2019, 12:14 PM
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That is a GREAT story for the reuniting of the car with drive train and for the hobby. If it were me, I'd not part this out; rather, I'd reunite the drive train and offer for sale (with this interesting story - FATE) and give someone a chance to save one of these cars. From the pictures, it looks worthy. PLUS...if this is a bonafide endura delete car (674 on build sheet), then it makes it one of 2108 and one of very few remaining. It's build date of 01c is not so early so this must have been ordered that way...

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  #9  
Old 12-31-2019, 10:56 PM
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Another vote for reunification. Cool story!

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  #10  
Old 01-01-2020, 02:52 AM
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As an owner of an Endura Delete, I vote to keep them together also!

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  #11  
Old 01-02-2020, 10:07 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tininjun68 View Post
As an owner of an Endura Delete, I vote to keep them together also!
What is the build date for you car? Just interested to see when in production cycle this was made.

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  #12  
Old 01-03-2020, 01:30 AM
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2nd or 3rd week of May. Framingham Car purchased new at Myrtle Motors on Long Island.

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  #13  
Old 01-04-2020, 07:23 PM
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That is an amazing story! I have a few similar but not as wild small world stories...

1... In 1985 I bought a red on red 69 GTO convertible near Vandenberg AFB in SoCal. I bought it from the widow of the original owner, he was a bigwig in the Air Force and he got it around Xmas of 68. Fast forward to 93 and I buy a brown 69 GTO convertible from the original owner in San Antonio. He was a general at Lackland AFB. As I’m talking on the phone I mention my red GTO also having belonged to an Air Force guy and it turns out they were friends and he ordered his GTO after going for a drive in the red one while visiting his friend at Vandenberg AFB!

2...In 93 when buying the brown GTO above I almost instead bought a 69 GTO hardtop in Tucson (both were in the same issue of Hemings). I passed on the hardtop but the women (widow of the original owner) sent me one of those 5min VHS tapes of the car. Fast forward to 2007 and I get a call from Gord Church (he’s here on PY) telling me he saw a 69 GTO for sale locally here in Canada. I went and looked for the hell of it because the car was within a mile of me. Nice rust free car but I wasn’t looking for another car so I passed. But when I got home I couldn’t shake the feeling I’ve seen it before. Then it hit me, I found the VHS tape in a bin full of old car pics in the basement and same license plate. The car crossed the continent to get within a mile of me. Naturally I had to buy it!

3... in 2014 I bought a 69 Catalina wagon from the son of the original owner in Grants Pass Oregon. Two years later I buy a Bonneville Brougham hardtop from the son of the original owner in Colorado. When I got the Bonnie home I added all its numbers to my database of my collection. Low and behold, both were built at the SouthGate plant, both had the same week-month on the trim tag, both had the same shipping date and lastly they were only two numbers apart on the VIN!

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  #14  
Old 01-08-2020, 09:26 PM
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I've been busy with the holidays and have been out of town, but here is the PHS on the car. Like I said, nothing extremely rare on the options, but it does have the 674 endura delete code. Another strange part of the story is that the guy I bought the car from promised me all the extra parts he didn't need to finish the Tempest convertible. So He was out picking up the rest of the parts from the guy he bought the pair of cars from, he calls me and says there is a rough pair of Pontiac heads laying off to the side, I asked him what the numbers were on the center port and the casting date, he says 16 and A188. He asked if that was a good casting number. I said that it was the 68 GTO head numbers and that they were probably the original heads too. The block and intake casting dates are A158. Of course, he joked that he would need more money now! So he brought them by and they were pretty rough, it took a bit of effort to disassemble them and several of the valves had rusted completely in half and the spark plugs rusted in. I think they might be saveable, they will need a ton of work and the intake surface has some heavy pitting on one of them. But I will probably have them magnafluxed and checked out.

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